Technology stocks remain the "darling" of BlackRock: Q2 sees a significant increase in holdings of Tesla and Apple, maintaining their position as the top two heavyweights in the portfolio.

According to the disclosure by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), BlackRock Inc., the world's largest asset management institution, has submitted its second quarter (Q2) holdings report (13F) as of June 30, 2023, as learned from the Zhongtong Finance APP.

The statistical data shows that BlackRock's Q2 total market value of holdings reached $36.28 trillion, an increase of 7% compared to the previous quarter's total market value of $33.9 trillion. In the second quarter, BlackRock added 193 individual stocks to its portfolio, increased its holdings in 2,699 individual stocks, reduced its holdings in 2,241 individual stocks, and liquidated its holdings in 254 individual stocks. Among them, the market value of the top ten holdings accounted for 22.01% of BlackRock's total market value of U.S. stocks holdings, making it the main contributor to BlackRock's investment portfolio.

In terms of holding preferences, BlackRock still favors technology stocks, accounting for 26.35% of its total holdings, followed by financial stocks and healthcare stocks, accounting for 14.28% and 13.05% of its total holdings, respectively, but both proportions have decreased compared to the first quarter.

Among the top ten heavy-weight stocks in BlackRock's second quarter, they are mainly concentrated in large technology companies. The "epic rebound" of these technology stocks in the first half of this year largely explains why BlackRock's market value of U.S. stocks holdings reached a MoM increase in Q2. The latest disclosed data shows that most of the top ten heavy-weight stocks were reduced by BlackRock in the second quarter, but four technology giants, namely Apple, Amazon, Tesla, and Meta Platforms, saw a slight increase in holdings by BlackRock.

Among them, Apple (AAPL.US) still ranks first as the heaviest-weight stock, with a holding of approximately 1.04 billion shares, a holding market value of approximately $201.7 billion, accounting for 5.55% of the investment portfolio, and a slight increase in the number of holdings compared to the previous quarter.

Microsoft (MSFT.US) ranks second, with a holding of approximately 536 million shares, a holding market value of approximately $182.6 billion, accounting for 5.03% of the investment portfolio, and a slight decrease in the number of holdings compared to the previous quarter.

Amazon (AMZN.US) ranks third, with a holding of approximately 611 million shares, a holding market value of approximately $79.6 billion, accounting for 2.19% of the investment portfolio, and a slight increase in the number of holdings compared to the previous quarter. NVIDIA (NVDA.US) ranked fourth with a position of approximately 182 million shares, a position value of approximately $77 billion, accounting for 2.12% of the investment portfolio. The position quantity decreased slightly compared to the previous quarter.

Google-A (GOOGL.US) ranked fifth with a position of approximately 419 million shares, a position value of approximately $50.1 billion, accounting for 1.38% of the investment portfolio. The position quantity decreased slightly compared to the previous quarter.

Among the top ten holdings, BlackRock's sixth to tenth largest holdings are Tesla (TSLA.US), Meta Platforms (META.US), Google-C (GOOG.US), UnitedHealth Group (UNH.US), and Berkshire Hathaway-B (BRK.B.US). Except for Tesla and Meta, all others were reduced by BlackRock in the second quarter. Tesla and Meta saw increases of 4% and 1% respectively. Data shows that after a surge of 68% in the first quarter, Tesla's second-quarter increase reached 27%.

Looking at the changes in position ratios, BlackRock's top five purchases in the second quarter were: Apple, Amazon, Meta Platforms, Tesla, and Broadcom (AVGO.US). BlackRock, which has always favored large-cap tech stocks, mainly increased its positions in tech stocks in the second quarter. Among them, the increase in Tesla, the global leader in electric vehicles, reached a significant 4%. Considering BlackRock's massive $3.7 trillion position size, this increase can be considered a "bold move" by BlackRock. Tesla rose from the 7th position in the first quarter to the 6th largest holding for BlackRock, while other tech stocks such as Apple, Amazon, and Meta saw small increases.

BlackRock's top five sales targets include: Chevron (CVX.US), Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO.US), Exxon Mobil (XOM.US), Pfizer (PFE.US), and Coca-Cola (KO.US). Looking at the main holding styles, BlackRock increased its proportion of tech stock holdings in the second quarter, but reduced the proportion of healthcare and financial stocks. In particular, BlackRock completely sold off its bullish options on the healthcare industry ETF (XLV.US), and significantly reduced its holdings in healthcare giants Thermo Fisher Scientific and Pfizer. With the sharp drop in international oil prices in the first half of this year, US oil and gas giants Chevron and ExxonMobil also experienced significant reductions in holdings by BlackRock.